The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have said they are “delighted” after the Sussexes announced the birth of their baby daughter – Lilibet “Lili” Diana Mountbatten-Windsor.
Lili is named after her great-grandmother the Queen – who was affectionately nicknamed Lilibet by her family – and her grandmother, the late Princess Diana.
William and Kate tweeted late on Sunday to say they were “delighted” with the “happy news”.
We are all delighted by the happy news of the arrival of baby Lili.
Congratulations to Harry, Meghan and Archie.
— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) June 6, 2021
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said: “The Queen, The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall, and The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have been informed and are delighted with the news of the birth of a daughter for The Duke and Duchess of Sussex.”
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A statement from the couple’s press secretary said that she was born at 11.40am on Friday “in the trusted care of the doctors and staff at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, California”.
More on Archie Harrison Mountbatten-windsor
Image: Lili was born at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in California. Pic: Google Street View
She weighed 7lbs 11oz (3.5kg) and her and Meghan are said to be “healthy and well, and settling in at home”.
Harry and Meghan, who live in Montecito, said on their Archewell website: “On June 4, we were blessed with the arrival of our daughter, Lili.
“She is more than we could have ever imagined, and we remain grateful for the love and prayers we’ve felt from across the globe. Thank you for your continued kindness and support during this very special time for our family.”
Image: Lili is a first sibling for Archie, pictured here with his parents in 2019
The new baby is the Queen’s 11th great-grandchild and the first of the Queen’s great-grandchildren to be born outside the UK.
Lilibet was first used when Princess Elizabeth was a toddler and unable to pronounce her own name properly.
Her grandfather, King George V, would affectionately call her ‘Lilibet’ imitating her own attempts to say Elizabeth.
The nickname stuck and from then on she became Lilibet to her family.
Prince Philip also referred to his wife as Lilibet, writing to his mother-in-law after their wedding: “Lilibet is the only ‘thing’ in the world which is absolutely real to me.”
We are all delighted by the happy news of the arrival of baby Lili.
Congratulations to Harry, Meghan and Archie.
— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) June 6, 2021
Congratulations to The Duke and Duchess of Sussex on the birth of Lilibet Diana! The Queen, The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall and The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are delighted with the news.
Lili will be entitled to be a princess and Archie a prince – both with HRH styles – when the Queen dies and Prince Charles becomes king.
This is because they will have moved up the line of succession to become the children of a son of a monarch.
Despite Harry and Meghan quitting as senior working royals, Lili is eighth in line to the throne, coming after Archie, who is seventh in line.
Anyone wishing to send a present is asked to support organisations working for women and girls.
Image: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex in London in January 2020. Pic: AP
Analysis: The chosen name shows family still matters By Rhiannon Mills, royal correspondent
For almost 48 hours, they kept the news from the world.
Time for Prince Harry and Meghan to take it all in, and get to know their little girl.
It couldn’t be more different from the royal way, where we’re used to hearing within hours about the new arrival.
When their son Archie was born in 2019, they were already protective of how the announcement was made.
They did not go with the usual protocol and have a big photocall to present their baby to the world.
However this time, now outside of the royal fold, they have been able to completely control the news how they wanted.
But don’t forget since moving away they have worked hard to set themselves up as a global brand, and that means a global spotlight on their personal lives.
Image: Both Harry and Meghan have spoken warmly about Her Majesty during interviews
If you couple that with the fact that this is the Queen’s 11th great-grandchild, and her first to be born outside of the UK, the international interest in this child is still going to be huge.
The names they’ve given the little girl also stand out.
To be fair, they often do when the Windsors welcome a new arrival, as we try to dissect why certain names have been chosen.
But their daughter has been given names with the most royal connections.
In previous years that wouldn’t necessarily be surprising, but now they do stand out after Harry and Meghan’s decision to step away from royal life, and their very public disagreements with other members of the Royal Family.
The choice of Lilibet, the Queen’s nickname, is in some ways an unexpected choice but a sign that family still matters despite everything that has been said.
Both Harry and Meghan have spoken warmly about Her Majesty during interviews, despite being critical of the family and the institution that she leads.
Image: Princess Diana with Prince William and Prince Harry in 1995
In many ways it was inevitable and a loving tribute from her son that he would want to include Diana as his daughter’s middle name.
It’s also worth remembering that Prince William’s daughter, Princess Charlotte, also has Diana and Elizabeth as her middle names.
In many ways this baby girl, born in California, will have a very different upbringing from her cousin.
But as the Queen has always said in statements, the Sussexes are much loved members of the family, and in her names Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor will forever be very much part of the Windsor dynasty.
It is the first time in the country’s history that House representatives have voted the Speaker out.
Behind closed doors early on Tuesday, Mr McCarthy told fellow Republicans: “If I counted how many times someone wanted to knock me out, I would have been gone a long time ago.”
Several Republicans, however, had said they were sticking with Mr McCarthy as they emerged from the meeting, during which they said he received standing ovations.
It is a move that angered Mr Gaetz and other far-right Republicans, as Mr McCarthy relied on Democratic votes to pass a temporary funding extension on Saturday that avoided a partial government shutdown.
A band of about 20 Republicans had forced Mr McCarthy’s hand by repeatedly blocking other legislation.
Mr Gaetz and his allies said they were frustrated by the slow pace of spending legislation on Mr McCarthy’s watch.
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Republican Representative Tim Burchett, who said he would vote to oust Mr McCarthy, said: “We took a whole month of August off. I think that that’s pretty telling.”
To look at the House of Representatives is to see the turbulence of America’s political ecosystem.
The ousting of Kevin McCarthy leaves the lower chamber of Congress in a state of paralysis.
There will be an interim Speaker but his or her role will effectively amount to finding a permanent replacement.
It is a dysfunction at the heart of power, an extension of the fault lines that fracture the modern-day Republican Party.
Never before has a House Speaker been ejected in this way, another day of history in US politics
The history-makers at the wheel have travelled a distance from the party fringes to positions of influence.
Matt Gaetz is the high-profile House representative who tabled the motion to oust McCarthy.
He’s prominent amongst a hard-line conservative core of House Republicans, Trump-aligned, and bent on reshaping party traditions and reorientating its trajectory to the right.
It is a tail that can wag the dog and this episode is clear evidence of it.
The rules dictate that just one representative – Mr Gaetz in this case – can trigger a vote to oust the Speaker.
That arrangement was a deal Mr McCarthy struck in January to appease his party’s right wing and enable his accession to the position of Speaker.
It didn’t look like clever politics by Mr McCarthy at the time and it looks even less so today.
Today, politics are harder in a party whose politics have changed.
Not all are convinced by Mr Gaetz’s intentions, with some Republicans believing he is angling for a change at a higher office.
“It seems very personal with Matt. It doesn’t look like he’s looking out for the country or the institution,” Mr McCarthy said.
Mr Gaetz has denied he is spurred on by a dislike of Mr McCarthy.
Hunter Biden, the son US President Joe Biden, has pleaded not guilty to three federal firearm charges filed against him after a plea deal collapsed.
He is accused of lying about his drug use in October 2018 on a form to buy a gun, which he kept for around 11 days.
Abbe Lowell, his lawyer, told the court in Wilmington, Delaware, on Tuesday he plans to file a motion to dismiss the case, challenging their constitutionality.
While the president’s son has admitted to struggles with a crack cocaine addiction over the period in question, his lawyers insist he didn’t break the law.
These kind of gun charges are rare, and an appeals court has found banning drug users from guns violates the Second Amendment.
The case remains on track for a possible trial just as the 2024 election looms.
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A woman is suing Disney over claims a water slide at one of its theme parks left her with serious injuries.
In a lawsuit filed in Orange County, Florida, last week, the woman claims the Humunga Kowabunga slide at Walt Disney World gave her “severe vaginal lacerations”.
Warning: The article below contains details some people may find distressing
After going on the ride at Typhoon Lagoon as part of her 30th birthday celebrations in 2019, she was taken by ambulance to a local hospital before being moved to another that specialised in gynaecological injuries, court documents say.
There medics found she had a “full thickness laceration” of the vagina, which “caused the plaintiff’s bowel to protrude through her abdominal wall and damage her internal organs”.
She is seeking $50,000 (£41,400) in damages from Disney, Sky News’ US partner network NBC News reports. The lawsuit said the Humunga Kowabunga slide puts riders at risk of a “painful wedgie”.
According to court documents, she went on the ride wearing a one-piece swimming costume with her mother and daughter after being instructed to cross her legs.
“The slide caused [her] clothing to be painfully forced between her legs and for water to be violently forced inside her,” the documents read.
“She experienced immediate and severe pain internally and, as she stood up, blood began rushing from between her legs.”
It adds that “risk of injury as a consequence of water being forced inside a woman’s body” is “far greater than it is for a man”.
Disney has not responded to NBC News’s requests for comment.
Humunga Kowabunga is Typhoon Lagoon’s fastest and steepest waterslide. It sends people down a five-storey descent at speeds of up to 40mph, according to Disney’s website.